How to Pick the Best Provider of Clipping Path Services

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Every day, ecommerce gets more and more competitive, and businesses need high-quality images to do well. To stand out, most images will need to be edited, so it’s important to find and work with a reliable clipping path company.

Clipping paths is a simple but time-consuming task that is great for giving to someone else. By sending edits to a clipping path service, you can get rid of time-consuming tasks and save money and time over time. And if you choose the right service provider, the change will go much more smoothly, so you can get back to business.

Why ecommerce companies work with a clipping path service

Along with lifestyle pictures, advertising shots, and social images, most ecommerce companies will need white background product photography. Unusually, photo-editing professionals use a clipping path to remove the background from a product image.

How does it work? A clipping path is created around the product, and then the product image can be saved as a transparent image (or placed onto a white background, for example).

In other words, a clipping path is like a cutout of an image. That cutout will likely be used for print ads, websites, and more—so it has to be good. Hence, it’s super important for ecommerce companies to work with a clipping path service that delivers high-quality work.

Why it’s important to choose the best clipping path service

Spend the time to find the right partner for outsourcing. In the long run, you’ll be better off.

So, what happens if you choose the wrong clipping path service? Some potential scenarios:

• missed deadlines for printing
• unhappy customers or even lost ones
• money was wasted
• Products from competitors are first put up for sale on Amazon.

Where to look to find the best clipping path service provider

On the web, there are a lot of options for clipping paths. A quick search on Google is a good place to start, but it can also be too much information. If you want to know how to pick the best clipping path company, look into each one carefully.

Look in these other places:

• Ask people you know for suggestions. Talk to your coworkers, send your friends emails, or post on social media. (This could also get you free or cheaper clipping paths, since you can use points to get free photo edits on Path.)
• Look around you. Check your local networks if you’d rather work with someone in person.
• Check with graphic designers, photographers, agencies, and universities in your area. Check out marketplaces where services are sold. Sites like Fiverr and Upwork are kind of like a marketplace for clipping path services because they let freelance photo editors advertise their services and bid on jobs. You might find good options here, but keep in mind that quality often varies and that individuals don’t have the same capacity for volume as an agency or company.

Greg Bullock hires out photo editing work for TheraSpecs on Fiverr. “I still do some final work on it when it comes back, but independent contractors do most of the work,” he says. “We use a few different freelance editors, depending on what kind of work needs to be done.”

• Read reputable publications in your field. There are a lot of round-up articles on the web that list the best resources for product photographers and ecommerce sellers.
• Look at social media sites. Creative groups are thriving on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. You can use the search tools, join groups, follow hashtags, or grow your network to find clipping path services.

What to look for in a clipping path service Price and how to pay

First, you need to make sure that the services are within your budget. Path, for example, is a clipping path service with prices that start at only 39 per image.

Don’t forget to look at how prices are set and what’s included in the posted rates. Different clipping path providers have different ways of setting prices. They might charge more for photos that need more complicated edits, offer packages of services, or give you a discount if you order a lot of photos.

You can buy a package of edit credits from Path. This is great if you need to edit your photos often: When you buy more credits, you save more money.

Quality

Even though you may be on a budget, you don’t want to skimp on quality. When you’re looking into clipping path services, look for examples of their work on their websites.

And don’t be afraid to ask questions if you have them. You should always know what you’re getting for your money.

Here are some questions to ask:

How do you make the clipping paths? If they say anything about automation, you should look elsewhere. You want real people, not computers, to look at every part of your photo. AI has a place in photo editing, but it doesn’t belong in product photography.

What is the process of making sure things are good? Is someone making sure that every order meets the standards? This is especially important for companies with more than one editor.

What do you do if you don’t like your pictures? If there’s no satisfaction guarantee, you should be careful.

How long it takes

If your deadlines are flexible, you don’t have to worry about this. But most of the time, you’re working on a tight schedule and need a clipping path service that can work with you.

Keep in mind that you may have to pay extra for a quick turnaround. If you need something quickly, you should find out how much the rush fees are.

At Path, you can choose from different turnaround times based on your budget and how quickly you need the work done. If you need them, you can get them back in as little as 6 hours.

List of services It makes sense to start with easy photo editing techniques like clipping paths and image masking. But as time goes on, you might need different kinds of photo edits. As your business grows, your editing needs might change.

If you think your business will grow soon, you might want to find a clipping path service that can also do things like photo retouching, ghost mannequin, and even vector conversion. If you don’t, you might have to use more than one editor or find a new one sooner than you planned.

Limit of orders

Depending on the size of your business or the time of year, you might have a lot of photos. For example, if you have a seasonal business or a big product launch, you might have a lot of photos.

Your clipping path service should be able to handle orders in large quantities. That’s exactly why you pay them: so they can do work you can’t.

Yes, we do mean large orders. The most photos we’ve ever sent out in one order was almost 9,000. Could you push us to do more?

Help for customers

Statista says that 90% of mid-market business leaders think that communication is one of the most important parts of outsourcing. That’s why it’s important to find out how each clipping path service company talks to its customers. If you can’t talk to the people who are making your clipping paths, it will be hard to get things done.

Here’s an example: If you live in California but work with a clipping path service in the UK, the time difference could make it hard to communicate effectively.

At Path, email support is available 24/7. So, even if you’re on the other side of the world or working at midnight on a weekend, we’re still here to answer any questions that come up. You’ll get a response in 45 minutes or less.

Ethics

Unfortunately, this industry is full of people who do clipping paths in bad conditions, especially when you’re dealing with companies from other countries.

One of the reasons photographer chose Path to edit his photos is because we care about our community. “Path does a lot of great things to help people find jobs and careers.

Getting a clipping path service company on board

It’s important to choose the right clipping path service provider so you don’t waste the time and money you were hoping to save by outsourcing. Ask people in your network, look on social media, and read trade magazines to find options you can trust. And keep these things in mind as you look at your options:

• Cost and how to pay:

Make sure it fits your budget and that they have a way to pay that works for your business.

• Quality:

Do they have evidence of how well they work?

• Time to complete:

Don’t forget to ask if there are any rush fees.

• List of services:

Find a provider who can keep up with your growth.

• Maximum order size:

If you have a lot of photos, one person might not be able to handle them all.

• Help for customers:

Help that can’t be reached is a red flag.

• Ethics:

You should be happy with where your money is going.

• Reviews:

This is the evidence you need to know you’re making the right decision.